We had a little fun the other day with The Bystander Blog – but it looks like not only has he found his spelling checker, he has something worthwhile to say. Head over and read Foreign Ownership Of Land In Barbados.
March 20, 2007...11:39 pm
The Bystander Finds A Speelling Chequer – And Takes Issue With Paul Altman’s Real Estate Assessment
Jump to Comments
10 Comments
March 20, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Altman has Owen and the BLP in his back pocket!
March 21, 2007 at 3:34 am
I think Paul Altman’s stats are pretty accurate.
If you take all of the condo and real estate developments on the west and south coast, even big ones such as Royal Westmoreland, Sugar Hill, Apes Hill, Port St Charles and all the other small ones, it is probably less than 3000 acreas, or about 3% of the land in Barbados. Royal Westmoreland is about 500 acres, Sandy Lane about 700 acreas (an estimate). Many of the condo developments near the coast are less than two acres.
Do we count returning nations as Bajans or foreigners? They probably account for a 1500 acres of land in house spots.
March 21, 2007 at 4:13 am
the BLP and Altman are in each others pocket.
Altman can’t do business in a closed society without knowing members of both political parties
they need each other
Altman is a realist as well as an opportunist
I still wouldn’t mind finding out he does his calculations?
March 21, 2007 at 1:43 pm
I’d like to see some ‘transparency’ with regards to the statistics that he employed to produce those figures.
If it’s accurate, then fine. If not, well, he needs to ‘up’ his figure regarding foreign land ownership in Barbados.
The comments he made on the show made me doubtful, but I could be wrong.
March 21, 2007 at 3:24 pm
I don’t get it, nor do i care too.
March 21, 2007 at 6:08 pm
… but didn’t Owen say that we were selling our land to pay our bills?
http://bararchive.bits.baseview.com/archive_detail.php?archiveFile=./pubfiles/bar/archive/2006/September/25/LocalNews/26482.xml&start=0&numPer=20&keyword=%5Cto+pay+our+bills%5C§ionSearch=&begindate=1%2F1%2F1994&enddate=12%2F31%2F2007&authorSearch=&IncludeStories=1&pubsection=&page=&IncludePages=1&IncludeImages=1&mode=allwords&archive_pubname=Daily+Nation%09%09%09
Does the ownership of land in Barbados by the hand from the south (Trinidad) count in the 2%?
March 21, 2007 at 6:12 pm
When I look back at the article I note how it ends, quoting him as follows.
On the 75th birthday of the late Prime Minister Tom Adams, Arthur urged the BLP family to join him in the upcoming series of meetings entitled, Conversations With The Nation, starting next Sunday, when they would “talk to the people in our own language”.
He said his “tongue will be sharpened on both sides” and he would not stand aside and let his party be savaged”.
“I am thirsty for the campaign trail, I really am,” Arthur said.
All I can tell Owen is take care you don’t play you going using your tongue as a dagger and but up on a man, or woman, with a collins.
March 22, 2007 at 12:06 am
Why dont we kick out all the foreigners and reduce the land value so that the “poor” bajan can buy it? Why? Because he isn’t going to take the risk!!!!! You will hear, “suppose de value drop some more after I buy it, dat en fair, why de gov’t can’t pay for it for me.etc,etc.” Perhaps a more interesting debate would be, “how many bajans do these properties employ compared to the ones owned by locals and what are they paid compared to those owned by locals.” How does one buy a piece of the rock without a job??????????????????????????????????????
March 22, 2007 at 6:18 am
One simple solution is to sell leasehold not freehold land.
March 22, 2007 at 11:40 am
ol’manriver
You are of course right. That is human nature.
It is a pity that we have become so disconnected from our land that we don’t know how to make it’s value grow except by treating it as a commodity.
The end result is that it will go to the highest bidder, local or foreign.
However we should know if the 2% touted by Mr. Altman, (sounds like an echo of Bizzy’s past pronouncements) is true and a proper reflection on the state of play.
Bajans in the past would have gone for an old envelope and figured something like this on the back.
Sandy Lane 465 Acres
Mollyneux 250 Acres
Bennets 292 Acres
Holders 203 Acres
Westmoreland 346 Acres
Thats about 1556 Acres out of a total 106,000 acres total, so that makes about 1.5% largely in foreign ownership.
Then there is the St. John Area controlled out of Trinidad.
Todds 275 Acres
Henley 338 Acres
Wakefield 300 Acres
Hothersall 401 Acres
Pool 365 Acres
That’s a total of 1679 acres out of 106,000 acres total, about 1.6%.
Lets see, 1.6% plus 1.5% is 3.1%.
And we haven’t looked at Hotels, condos etc. as yet.
So the 2% figure touted by Messrs Altman and Williams seems to have been taken out of the air and is more than 50% out, on the low side.